[B00T]

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1. Inflated view of one's bankroll through bonuses:

For those starting at the micro level, bonuses are an easy way to build up the bankroll when starting out. Personally, my first $500 was really built through some casino whoring, so I could take advantage of the full amount of bonuses that poker sites had to offer. But because of that, I think bonuses have allowed me to play at a higher stake and move up levels before knowing if I was really "beating" them or not. Now that I'm hitting $2/$4, poor play results in losses outside of what a bonus would cover at the $1/2 and $.50/$1 level.

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This is so frickin brilliantly put. No other way to say it.

I made a post a few days ago asking if there was a way PT can encorporate your bonus whoring money into your winrate. I have built my online bankroll up over the last year and a half and really have no idea how much of it came from bonuses and casino whoring. In Neteller its all the same whether it was $800 coming from a $1/$2 grind over a month, or spending 45 minutes ransacking BJ Ballroom in pounds (oh the good ole days). Many players just say oh I worked my roll up to 1500 from $50. Thats all well and good but when you break it down, after the $100 signup bonus, the $50 free some affiliate gave you into your acct, the IGM bonus you did, your reload, and 5 freerolls you won for a total of $25, and one casino whore, and a sidebet you made in Neteller on the Yanks/RedSox series, you really dont know what your winrate is.

If you play 100% on Party, or Stars, and have used Pokertracker for every single hand you may be ok but I am sure 90% of new users to this forum never heard of PT beforehand and thus dont know about their roll coming from where. If I played an hour at my gf's house it isnt recorded in PT.

Players must examine where their bankroll came from. If you have 300BB it doesnt mean you can move up. If you are up 600BB's at a previous level, then move up. People would be surprised how little they actually earned from playing compared to bonuses in some instances.

Good post Nolan.